Title : Age Reaction

Problem scenario

If you were about to get hit by a ball, your reaction time makes a big difference. You could get hurt if you went to deflect the ball after it already went by you. It is good to have a fast reaction time. Same if you were about to fall. You would want to put your hands down before you fall, instead of after.

Broad Question

Does age affect reaction time?

Specific Question

Do different age groups have different reaction times?

Hypothesis

I think that older people will have a slower reaction time then younger people.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: age

Dependent Variable: Reaction Time

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Environment

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Reaction time
Age
tests

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General Plan

My general plan is to test people and time them to see how quick they will respond to certain things. I am going to record there time and find there average time.My plan is to test a variate of different aged people to see if the older people will have a slower reaction time than the younger people.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Won't have enough people - plan ahead of time to make sure i will have enough
people being tested under the influence of drugs or alcohol- ask them to not to drink for the day or night before.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

A safety concern i might have is that i will have to be careful when i am doing the tests, like when I do the ruler test.

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

What is your experimental unit?

I am going to write down the score the volunteer gets on the ruler in centimeters.

Number Of Trials

I will give each person I test three trials.

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

I am comparing the reaction time of different aged people.

Number of Observations:

For each Trial I will write down one number for there score in cm. I am going to do this three times.

When data will be collected

I am going to start collecting my data on 3/19

Where will data be collected?:

I am going to make a chart in my science notebook and put all of my data in there.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost

Detailed Procedure

Ruler drop test:
step 1: find volunteers to test
step 2: Bring the volunteer to a quiet and calm environment with no distractions
step 3: Give the volunteer the directions of how to do the ruler drop test. Tell them how to hold out there dominant hand and to catch the ruler as fast as they can when i drop it.
step 4: put the ruler (with the smaller numbers down) at the bottom of there pink finger.
step 5: drop the ruler and when they catch it, tell them to keep it in the same position from when they caught it and to not move there hand at all.
step 6: write down there score.
step 7: repeat the test three times
step 8: when all the scores are written down, find there average score.

Online test:
step 1: find a volunteer to test
step 2: bring the volunteer to a quiet environment with no distractions, make sure there is a table so there can be a computer
step 3: log onto the computer and bring up the online test
step 3: Have the volunteer read the directions on the screen and make sure they know exactly how to do the test
step 4: Have the volunteer use their usual "clicking hand" and have them do the whole test until it has finished.
step 5: At the end of the test, write down there first three scores
step 5: find there average score and write it down.

Diagram

Photo list

people doing the test
Me preparing the tests
Me showing people how to do the tests and giving them instructions

Time Line

Procedure,timeline,photo list complete 2/1
begin experiment 2/4
experiment done 3/1
analysis 3/7
discussion/ background 3/15
wiki complete 3/15
posters complete 3/22
Kms science fair 3/29

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Ages Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

12 24 19 16 20

12 26 20 17 21

13 21 19 20 20

13 30 18 18 22

14 21 20 10 17

14 13 23 19 18.3333333333333

14 18 11 14 19.3333333333333

15 27 14 16 21

20 22 20 20 20

21 17 18 24 22

21 25 20 20 17

24 20 19 16 18.3333333333333

25 16 17 13 14.3333333333333

25 20 13 21 19

30 13 12 18 14.3333333333333

30 30 21 15 22

4 20 20 21 20.3333333333333

40 22 23 22 22.3333333333333

43 24 24 28 25.3333333333333

45 22 19 19 20

46 24 28 24 25.3333333333333

48 21 25 20 22

50 30 30 26 25.3333333333333

50 30 28 30 29.3333333333333

60 30 27 29 28.6666666666667

62 23 30 20 24.3333333333333

63 27 29 30 28.6666666666667

65 30 30 28 29.3333333333333

65 24 22 20 22

68 30 27 29 28.6666666666667

70 26 28 29 27.6666666666667

70 28 27 28 27.6666666666667

80 30 30 30 30

85 29 30 30 30

Graph

Photos

Results

During my experiment I tested people to see how your reaction time changes as you get older. After going over all of my data I discovered that as you get older, your reaction time gets slower. The older adults did the worst, and some even dropped the ruler there first time trying the ruler drop test. The young adults and the teenagers did the best. The younger people I tested mostly got around the twenties and under. The older adults mainly got about twenty.

Conclusion

My hypothesis was that the younger people would have a better reaction time than the older people. Based on my data, I accept my hypothesis The kids in their teens and the young adults in there twenties and early thirties did the best. The adults in their early forties and older did the worst.Many of the older adults dropped the ruler, or didn't even catch it.

Discussion

During my experiment I noticed that all of the older adults had scores above twenty and all the young adults,teenagers,and kids had all scores around twenty and lower. This shows that my hypothesis was correct. I also proved that your reaction time does depend on your age, which were my variables. To improve my experiment and to help answer my specific question better I would have tried to more tests than the one I did. I would also try to get more volunteers to test.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

Background Research

NERVES

References

Abstract

In my experiment I tested people to see how fast their Reaction time was. To do this, I did the ruler drop test on them. I put a ruler between their hands and when I dropped it, they had to catch it as fast as they can. I did this three times and wrote down their scores. I predicted that the younger kids would do the best. After looking at all of my data, I discovered that the kids in their teens did the best along with young adults in their twenties and early thirty's. Most of the adults started doing worse when they got in their late thirty's or forties. The Adults in or over their eighties dropped it or got a very high score each time. Almost everyone I tested got better after there first or second time. I think that if everybody got more time to practice, they would all have better scores. Based on my data this proves that your age does affect your reaction time as you get older.